Abstract

Since permanent colonial incursion in 1788, Aboriginal groups around Australia incorporated introduced materials for a variety of tasks. However, relatively little is known about Aboriginal uses of bottle glass and ceramic flakes because there have only been two published use-wear analyses concerning bottle glass and none for ceramic. Excavations at the historical site of the former Schofields Aerodrome in New South Wales yielded flakes of both materials as well as introduced flint. We draw on actualistic experiments to inform interpretations of use-wear among the 279 archaeological specimens. Results demonstrate that glass, ceramic and flint were indeed used at the former Schofields Aerodrome site, for tools to work other materials. This is the first evidence for such use of ceramic flakes, which had previously only been known to have been used as end-products, such as spear tips. Use-wear also indicates that, contrary to common assumptions, thicker parts of glass bottles were not always preferred for tools and that across each raw material, tools were predominantly shards rather than intentionally knapped flakes. We infer that while ascribing motives to past behaviours is complex, the use of the introduced materials represents agency in Aboriginal people’s engagement with the incoming colonial culture.

摘要

自 1788 年永久殖民入侵以来，澳大利亚各地的原住民团体将引进的材料用于各种任务。然而，关于瓶子玻璃和陶瓷薄片的土著用途知之甚少，因为只有两篇关于瓶子玻璃的已发表使用磨损分析，而没有关于陶瓷的使用磨损分析。在新南威尔士州前斯科菲尔德机场的历史遗址进行的挖掘工作产生了两种材料的薄片以及引入的燧石。我们利用现实主义实验来解释 279 个考古标本中的使用磨损。结果表明，玻璃、陶瓷和燧石确实在前 Schofields 机场现场被用作加工其他材料的工具。这是陶瓷片这种用途的第一个证据，以前只知道被用作最终产品，例如矛尖。使用磨损还表明，与普遍假设相反，玻璃瓶的较厚部分并不总是首选工具，并且在每种原材料中，工具主要是碎片而不是故意敲碎的薄片。我们推断，虽然将动机归因于过去的行为是复杂的，但引入材料的使用代表了土著人民参与传入殖民文化的代理。